The new data appeared in early August in The New England Journal of Medicine. In the article “IgG Endopeptidase in Highly Sensitized Patients Undergoing Transplantation”, researchers demonstrated that treatment with IdeS, an IgG degrading enzyme of Streptococcus pyogenes, is effective in reducing donor specific antibodies (DSAs) to levels allowing life-saving kidney transplantation of highly sensitised patients. The article addresses three independent clinical Phase II studies with Hansa Medical’s lead candidate.

”HLA sensitisation is a major barrier to kidney transplantation,“ said Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Stanley Jordan. The US scientist is a joint lead author of the paper. ”Despite advancements in desensitisation, effective methods to remove incompatible HLA antibodies remains a significant challenge in transplantation. There are currently no approved treatments for desensitisation and there is a significant unmet medical need for new therapies to address this issue. IdeS could represent a novel approach to eliminate DSAs and enable transplantation for highly sensitised patients.”

The studies, performed in Sweden and the US, included 25 HLA-sensitised patients who received IdeS immediately before kidney transplantation. All HLA-antibodies were eliminated in all patients after IdeS treatment prior to surgery. Of the 25 treated and transplanted patients, 24 patients had good kidney function at study completion, six months following transplantation. IdeS is currently being evaluated in a multi-center study (“Highdes”) in the US, France and Sweden in highly sensitised patients that do not respond to currently available desensitisation methods. Results from this study are expected in 2018.